1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an applicator device for a laying machine applying a composite material tape.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For forming composite material parts, such as aerodynamic surfaces of an aircraft (wings, flaps, control surfaces, etc. . . . ) a method is already known consisting in laying a ribbon of resistant fibres (glass, carbon, boron, etc. . . .) impregnated with curable resin on an application surface or mold. When the ribbon is laid, it is then subjected to known operations for polymerizing said resin, so that the desired part is then obtained. The article "Automated tape laying" by Allen J. Klein, published in the review "ADVANCED COMPOSITES", of January/February 1989 describes machines for implementing such a method.
To apply the tape on the application surface, such machines use an applicator device formed generally by a rotary roller or shoe carried by a mobile head which may be moved and oriented in all directions necessary for appropriate lapping of the application surface.
So that it can be applied on convex and/or concave application surfaces, such a rotary roller is formed so as to be deformable while intimately following the profile of said surfaces. For example, the patent U.S. application Ser. No. 4,601,775 describes such a roller having a deformable envelope connected to a rigid shaft by a swivel joint structure.
However, the other known embodiments for tape applicator rollers have limited deformability, which does not allow perfect application on very concave or very convex surfaces. In fact, if the application surface is very convex, the ends of the roller are not in contact with said surface, whereas if the application surface is very concave, it is the central part of the roller which is not in contact with said surface. In such cases of application, the only solution possible at the present time is to reduce the length of the applicator roller and consequently the width of the tape applied, which increases the number of applications of lengths of tape and so the manufacturing time and the cost of the manufactured parts.
An object of the present invention is to overcome this drawback and it relates to a device comprising an applicator roller molding itself perfectly to the profile of the application surface even in the case where the latter has very great curvatures or curvature reversal.